


Fuck It

by dragonbornette



Category: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-09 10:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11102319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonbornette/pseuds/dragonbornette
Summary: Three months post-recovery and Adam decides he has some things to say to his boss. An unexpected guest at the door changes all that.(as of Chapter Three, I am upgrading the rating because I'm not sure where this is going <3)





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few quick disclaimers:  
> a) Relatively new to the fandom, so any skewed facts (i.e., small details like eye color) are to be expected despite my researching  
> b) This obviously takes place prior to Adam’s return to work, maybe three-ish months after the surgery?  
> c) I HAVE NO CONFIDENCE ABOUT MY ABILITY TO WRITE THESE CHARACTERS, SO PLEASE BE NICE.

\--------------

There were all sorts of feelings Adam harbored during his recovery post-surgery. The myriad of emotions and sensations (or lack thereof) had been a new and frustrating struggle for him. In between the loss of Megan and the loss of his own body, Adam found himself to be quite a mess. 

His bathroom mirror attested to that.

Yet, despite David’s questionable decisions regarding the augmentations, Adam couldn’t bring himself to abhor the man the way the CEO probably deserved. Then again, if you were suppressing feelings for your boss, you might find yourself up the same shit creek as Adam.

Adam downed the last of his drink and stood. That had been one of the first sensations he’d had to get used to. His legs were not his own anymore. Neither were his eyes, his arms… Adam pushed the thoughts away lest he dwindle down that dark path again and break another mirror. He’d come to terms with what he was now, for the most part, he’d had to. Maybe one day he’d get an explanation from David, perhaps an apology, but today was not that day.

He had to go see David. It would be an unscheduled visit, but the fewer people that saw Adam, the better—hence the late hour. The last thing he needed was Pritchard finding out he was there and getting nosy. Adam could hardly stand the man. he didn’t need to give the hacker any ammo to use against him in any future arguments they were sure to have. 

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts of Pritchard, Adam took a deep breath to ready himself and made his way out of his apartment. However, when he opened his door to leave, the last person he expected stood on the other side, looking just as stunned as Adam did.

It was David.

“Adam!” the CEO quickly recovered, opening his arms in greeting. He sounded nervous, but Adam hadn’t gotten used to the CASIE augmentation enough to bother checking if the older man actually was.

Completely thrown off by this turn of events, Adam hadn’t even realized that he was standing silently in his doorway just staring at the older man. 

“Adam? Son?” David was asking, arms dropping slowly to his sides. 

Adam shook his head briefly, collecting himself as he tried to use this to his advantage. “What are you doing here, _boss_?” he asked, adding a little resentment in that last word for effect.

It worked. David’s blue eyes blinked rapidly for a moment as he cleared his throat. “I came to see you,” he said. “You know, check on you, see how you’re doing.”

“That’s awfully kind of you.”

David looked rather exasperated at Adam’s sarcastic quip and threw his hands up defensively. “Adam, please, can we not do this out here?” he asked, expression growing just a tad bit desperate.

Adam caved and stepped back, gesturing half-heartedly for David to enter. “Don’t you have a key?” The sarcastic question slipped out before he could help himself.

The CEO of Sarif Industries stopped where he was and turned around as Adam shut the door. The desperate and concerned expression he’d worn in the hall was gone, replaced by what looked to be extreme agitation. “I’ve had just about enough of your lip, son,” he said, raising his voice. “Now what the hell has gotten into—” He glanced past Adam to the coffee table in the living room and saw the mostly empty bottle of whiskey sitting there. “Oh, well that explains a lot.”

“Sure, boss, blame the alcohol.”

David looked torn between being angry and seeming helpless. He stared at the shades covering Adam’s eyes as an eternity of silence passed between them. “Adam…” he tried again. “This isn’t how I wanted this to be.”

Adam’s head tilted in response. “How you wanted what to be?” he asked in reply, but the venom in his voice had dissolved noticeably. 

David was grateful for that, but it didn’t make what he wanted to say any easier. “This,” he said, gesturing between them. “Seeing you again after…everything.”

Adam hesitated as he studied the older man. David’s usual demeanor of oozing confidence and enthusiasm was gone and had been replaced by this timid and apprehensive persona. Something about the shift in dynamic appeased Adam and he felt his anger dissipate. He took a step closer to David and retracted his shades. “You gonna tell me why you’re really here, boss?” he asked, holding his gaze when the older man finally looked up at him. 

“Adam, I…” David faltered again but berated himself quietly and inhaled sharply. “You have to understand, Adam. I didn’t want to lose you.”

Adam rolled his eyes and stepped back, the moment gone. “Of course, I’m a valuable asset to the company,” he muttered.

“Adam!” David snapped, his ornate hand reaching out to grab the taller man’s arm. “ _I_ didn’t want to lose you.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know they're short, I'm sorry ;-;

The silence that followed was deafening, even to Adam. He knew he was supposed to say something to make the other man feel at ease, but what was he supposed to say to that? 

“You want to run that by me again, boss?” he asked, cocking his head.

“Ah, fuck it,” David said, letting go of Adam to stalk over to the coffee table and pour himself a drink. 

Adam watched in surprise, following part of the way as he watched his boss down a glass of the whiskey quite faster than he expected. With David distracted for the moment and commenting about the poor quality of the whiskey, Adam took advantage of the silence to try and assess the situation. For starters, he had quite literally been on his way to tell David how he felt about things only to find the other man standing at his door. After an awkward exchange of sarcasm and beating around the bush, the CEO had been the one confessing feelings instead. Not only that, but admitting that he had plenty of other ulterior motives for saving Adam’s life the way he had.

It was a lot to digest. All of Adam’s sarcasm had gone out the window as a result. He realized he didn’t know what he was feeling, or what to feel. 

“Look, Adam,” David spoke up, breaking the silence. “I know there’s a lot to talk about, a lot you probably want to say to me, but can we level for a second?”

Adam nodded as he made his way over to the couch, sitting down as he reached for his pack of cigarettes. He was feeling fidgety and knew he was going to need something to get him through this conversation. 

David sighed heavily as he sat down next to Adam, setting the glass in his mechanical hand back on the coffee table. “I don’t know where to start,” he said, resting his arms on his legs and clasping his hands together, “but I’m guessing ‘the beginning’ isn’t really relevant right now.” He looked at Adam for a brief second and then looked away. “Adam, son, look… I know you’ve lost everything and my intervening only complicated things for you, but I…”

Adam realized after a moment what David’s trouble was. It was the same issue that he had been having. Coming to terms with these feelings was one thing, but Adam couldn’t find a way to put them into words, and it was clear that David was having the same problem. 

_Fuck it._

Without lighting his cigarette, Adam put both it and the lighter he’d grabbed back down and, without saying anything, shifted to put one arm around David’s shoulders. It was a soft action, metal arms be damned, but if he couldn’t say how he felt, he’d sure as hell show it. It was just the right amount of affection he felt the situation warranted. 

David stiffened, but only in surprise, relaxing a second later and shifting to lean into the embrace. He could smell the aftermath of the whiskey and cigarettes his Chief of Security had rampaged through prior to his arrival, but underneath it was the odor of metal and faint cologne. Probably something Megan had bought for him, but it smelled just like he thought Adam should smell.

As they sat there like that, it dawned on Adam just how alone he was; not that it wasn’t something he didn’t already know about himself, but having another body there against him reminded Adam of things he had lost and missed, even if it was his boss. To Adam’s surprise, it seemed as if David was almost desperate for the affection, as if he’d been missing it too for his own reasons. 

After several minutes, David braved to rest his organic hand on Adam’s still-organic thigh. It meant nothing more than a way for him to reciprocate the arm around his shoulders.

“You don’t have to explain,” Adam spoke after an eternity of silence. “I was on my way to see you, actually.” He retracted the lenses over his eyes and looked at the man leaning against him. 

David pulled back to look at Adam as he spoke, not hiding the surprise he felt hearing those words. “Yeah?”

Adam nodded. “I’ve had time to think, David, time to be angry, time to analyze things,” he said. “Some things still don’t make sense, some do. I know my anger is justified, but I also know there’s a time and a place and this isn’t it.”

David looked away, almost in shame, when Adam talked about his anger. He knew it was a conversation they would have to have at some point, but Adam was right about that—not now. “We both know what we want to say, but we just can’t say it, can we?” he asked, giving a soft awkward laugh.

One corner of Adam’s lips quirked up just slightly as the other man nodded. “Seems that way,” he answered, glancing at the clock. “How long can you stay?”

“How long…how long can I _stay_?” David asked incredulously. “Christ, Adam, I’m the fuckin’ CEO, I make the rules. I stay as long as you want.”

“You got it, boss.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you think I could go further with this, let me know.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For future reference, seeing as how this fic is probably going to be longer than I anticipated, most of any in-game references will refer to a pacifist-stealth Adam. So, in this case, he let Sanders live, saved the hostages, used non-lethal force and stealth at Milwaukee Junction, etc..

Both men were quick to agree that whatever this thing between them was should stay a secret. There was too much hanging in the balance and too many things it would complicate were they to be open about it. Besides, for both David and Adam, it was a learning experience. David didn’t date much in general, for various reasons, and Adam was still mourning the loss of Megan. Even if they had been exes, it was obvious to plenty that feelings had still been there.

So, for now, the two met occasionally at Adam’s apartment and spent their time alone just being together. Sometimes they barely spoke, other times David ranted about whatever was going on up at Sarif Industries; sometimes David brought take-out, other times they just drank whiskey. For them, it worked and that’s all they needed.

Three months later, however, threatened to change all that when David pulled Adam in off his sick leave to deal with the situation in Milwaukee Junction. It wasn’t that Adam didn’t think he was ready, but for the first time since this relationship had started, he realized that work was finally coming into play. He realized that he would have to start remembering that David was his boss and would be just that whenever they were at Sarif Industries, and not the man he was when they were in Adam’s apartment.

Adam was professional enough to know how to keep work and personal life separate. He may not have always succeeded when that came to Megan, but David was a different story. The Chief of Security paid attention to all the details his boss was giving him about the situation he was about to walk into as they flew to Milwaukee Junction. When Malik announced they were landing, David uncrossed his legs and moved forward towards Adam; the businessman was gone, the man Adam had come to know remained.

“Adam, I trust you, but…” the CEO hesitated. “Be careful.”

Adam’s lips twitched, hiding a smile that only David seemed to be able to elicit these days. “You got it, boss.”

“Seriously, Adam,” David protested, getting the sense that the other man wasn’t taking him seriously. “I…” He shook his head instead, reaching with his organic hand to touch briefly touch Adam’s cheek. “I’m serious, son, be careful.”

Adam was surprised by the sudden show of affection, realizing then that the CEO was genuinely concerned. He was smart enough to know it wasn’t because David doubted his abilities, but was afraid of losing him. He’d been saved once by the older man, but how many lives did Adam have?

 

~*~

 

Post-mission, however, was a different story. It took everything Adam had not to get angry with Sarif, not to be too defensive regarding the decisions he’d made at Milwaukee. As a businessman, perhaps David couldn’t see just why Adam had done what he had, but he wasn’t trying all that hard to look at the other side of things. Again, Adam drifted to thoughts of just how much their business relationship would interfere with the one outside of work. Just how were they going to manage?

Apparently, David was on the same train of thought and stopped Adam before he left. “Wait, son,” he said softly, sighing as he made his way over to the younger man. “Look, I uh… I’m having trouble figuring out how this works, you and me.”

Adam turned back towards his boss, cocking his head slightly. His anger dissipated and was replaced with what felt like relief. “I know, boss. I don’t think we anticipated just how things were going to be once I came back to work.”

David moved closer, seemingly at a loss for words and looking more upset than Adam expected him to be.

“Boss?”

David waved his hand dismissive in response. “Ah, sorry Adam, I’m just stressed out about all this,” he said, stepping back and shaking his head as if to clear it. “You should go. You’ve got a lot to do.”

_Fuck it._

Adam shook his head as well. “No, I’ve got time.” He gestured to the sofa off to their side and guided the other man to it. He was a bit surprised that David didn’t protest, but once again, he felt relief as well.

David sighed once they sat down and leaned back, staring at the ceiling while Adam watched in silence. He didn’t say anything and neither did Adam, just like how they were at the younger man’s apartment, except this time, he felt a mechanical hand taking a hold of his organic one and threading their fingers.

“Adam—”

“—I’m watching the door,” the Chief of Security protested.

“No, this is fine,” David reassured, looking at his Chief of Security. “I just…I’m surprised, son.”

Adam thought carefully, not entirely sure what the right thing to say was. This wasn’t a typical moment for them – either they were silent, or David was ranting, but this was neither. This was something new, and maybe it was time for Adam to start doing the talking.

“I know you’re stressed, boss,” he said after a brief silence, “and I suspect we aren’t going to have too many opportunities to spend time together over the next few days, so…” He carefully squeezed the older man’s hand. “I’m making up for it now.”

David laughed softly, relaxing a little. “Yeah?” He shifted a little, getting comfortable. “I like it.”

For the first time in a long time, Adam smiled. “Good.”


End file.
